We are all EARTHLINGS!

The Earth is sometimes referred to as mother earth and all of us inhabiting her are all her children. I know, I know it is just a line taken from a speech of an environmentalist, but if you try to look at world as one big nation, then everyone residing in that nation is called citizens with one nationality – Earthlings. So all of US are EARTHLINGS not martian or any alien from another nation.

So what does this nation requires from us Earthlings? As any mother would require her children, she would ask us to love and take care of each other inspite of individual differences. She would remind us that sharing is good and whatever happens, remember that they are your siblings. She would reminds us that everything she has will be bequest to her children and that each will have their own share. There will be those who will receive more and there will be those who will receive less, but it doesnt mean she loves them less. It can be that more is given to those less able and needs more to survive. While less will be given to those who can managed on their own. What a great world this could be if only everyone followed mother. However, man has a long his history of disobedience.

The first fall of man as the bible says is disobedience. God has forbidden Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge, but they wanted to have more knowledge beyond themselves and the same as God. Presented with the temptation to know more, given the freewill to decide, it was a judgement call, greed set in and they disobeyed God. In the process, they lost their innocence and learned more about guilt and sin; eventually leading to mortality and banishment from the Garden of Eden. Life in the Garden of Eden would have been perfect – no hunger, no death and no suffering. Unfortunately man has not changed.

The world as we live in is still filled with hunger, death and suffering. All these can be solved if man only listened to mother. As mother said, share what you have and take care of each other but instead we see countries at war because they want to seize another country’s resources or remain in power. There is hunger because there is shortage in food production due to prolonged drought. Prolonged drought and other natural calamities such as floods, tropical storms are on the rise because our highly industrialized and civilized world has failed to factor in the effects of production and consumption to the environment. All these exist because man wanted to have more than what they have at the expense of others. Simple greed.

Simple greed. That is so easy to say, but the implication is so great because we are talking about people and their lives, our children’s future and our nation’s existence. Remember we are living in one world. We breathe the same air, our water system are somehow interconnected and its already a border less world – we travel or work or migrate to other countries. We may think that an individual’s wrong judgement call may seem immaterial, but collectively it does matter. If only people cared more.

If only people cared more they will know that there are 6.5 million people, including 2.8 million children internally displaced within Syria This year. There are 300,000 malnourished children endangered in Somalia because of severe drought and the country is facing a possible famine within the year. If cigarette companies care, they will stop production and thus prevents about seven million people from dying every year. If manufacturing companies care they will comply with environmental rules and not be a contributor to air pollution. According to World Health Organization, about 7 million premature deaths annually are linked to air pollution. How many more Earthlings need to die before we start caring?

How many Earthlings need to care? Mother said, all of her children needs to care. It isn’t just a responsibility of one, but off all. This time, try to listen and obey. I agree that individually its immaterial, but it may start a ripple effect that may infect one and another and hopefully it becomes infectious then later pandemic. Mother will be glad if that happens.

So from one earthling to another, let’s do it now before we are banished from our home.